What the Future May Hold
by TheBookRider
Summary: Life is crazy when your best friend is a ghost returned from dying - for a second time. But Astrid doesn't complain. She has Hiccup, and what more could a shield maiden ask for when dealing with the monstrosities of high school? Modern AU. ghost!Hiccup. (Please read What Might Have Been, What May Be first.)
1. In the Dark, I Become

_A/N: If you're reading this and you haven't read my fanfiction _What Might Have Been, What May Be, _stop reading this. Because it's a sequel of sorts, it will be confusing if you don't. But I promise you that it's a decent read. Sort of. _

_This is meant to be a compilation of things that might happen into the future. Thank you for reading!_

**In the Dark, I Become**

"_Dad! Please! For once in your life would you listen to me?! Dad!"_

"_Dad!"_

"_Dad!"_

_Dad!_

_Dad!_

_Dad!_

_Dad._

_Dad._

Dad.

As the words swirl and echoed in his head, Hiccup Haddock could only stand and watch as the bulldozers prepared to destroy what had been his home for hundreds of years.

Anyone in his right mind would have been screaming his head off, ranting about how unfair it was, but all Hiccup could feel was...empty. He was a ghost. He was nothing. He was being poured out like sand from a bottle.

He watched Astrid bike up to the house, golden hair streaming around her face, and slam her bike down onto the ground. When she was mad, she was a destroying Valkyrie. As he watched her scream at the workers deconstructing his house, he shivered.

"Should we stop her, Bud?" he asked Toothless, who was waiting curled around his eldritch form. In reply, Toothless let out a huff of steam.

When his hand touched her shoulder, she jumped in surprise and swung an arm at him. If he had been human, she would have packed a punch. But she didn't seem to care.

Then a cold hand touched her shoulder.

"Hiccup!" she cried. "I have to go stop them! They're going to tear it down, and when the house is gone, you'll disappear. I don't want to lose you."

It had been a long time since anyone had said words akin to those. They felt foreign to his ears, like honey. He was wanted. But he could not keep himself there. The process of falling away, which had dragged on for so many years, was being brought to an end. "_It's all right, Astrid."_

But dear determined Astrid would not accept _that. _She was a stubborn Viking in every drop of her blood. "No! It's not! It's my fault! If I hadn't insisted that I was right in trespassing, it wouldn't be happening. We were wrong for going where we shouldn't have even if other kids were doing it." Her forehead crinkled angrily.

Hiccup could not let her think that this was her fault. "_It would have happened, Astrid. If not you, then someone else in the future. It's better this way." _Even as the words slipped out of his mouth, he wished they weren't true.

"But you'll be gone _forever._ Valka told me to understand, and I do. I could be your friend." Hope lit up in her eyes and replaced the despair.

Hiccup wanted to say yes to it, but he couldn't. He was a ghost, and he was going to stay that way - at least, for a few more seconds. "You _won't be gone forever_. _I've been holding onto a memory, and now it's your turn."_

His words made Astrid's face crumple. "I'm sorry." Tears streaked down her face, and she leaned towards him. "I'm so sorry, Hiccup. I ruined everything."

Hiccup wasn't the best with people. He didn't know how to comfort her, how to tell her that he had been fading away for a long time. "_It's okay."_

He could not see it, but he felt the demolition about to commence. It was like a buzz around his head, distracting him.

"I'll miss you, Hiccup," Astrid whispered.

He hated to see vibrant go-get-'em Astrid looking so..._defeated. _He couldn't leave her like that! "_You'd miss all this?"_ he teased, puffing out his blood-stained chest on purpose like his father would have.

Astrid punched him in the air. "Oh, don't get too cocky, or you'll start to sound like Snotlout."

Satisfied that his plan had worked, he grinned. "_Never." _He hoped that it would stay that way. He couldn't bear the thought of her spending the rest of _her _days grieving about him.

Unexpectedly, Astrid unlooped the leather string that held his mother's music box's gear and asked, "Do you want your gear back?"

It was tempting, but it was another one of the things he couldn't do. He shook his head. "_No, you keep it. It looks better on you than me, and I can't take it with me when I go."_

A wrecking ball swung into the building, shattering a side. Glass cascaded to the ground.

Icy fire burned through his chest. He couldn't breathe. Well, he couldn't in the first place because he was dead, but this…

This was death.

"Hey, don't go!" Astrid demanded as though she were going to punch him again if he didn't obey her.

He smiled at her. "_Don't blame yourself. I've done stupider things."_

Although he was going to launch into a longer explanation of all those stupider things he'd done in his long life, she cut him off. "You can't die on me!"

The equipment moved towards the building again. His head hurt. Everything about him hurt except for Astrid. "_I won't." _She was like a star shining in a pitch-black night, but even she was being swallowed up. He grabbed his head. Slowly, the world was spiraling and disappearing around him, like a whirlpool. If he was going to die, he wanted his best friend to be with him.

"_Toothless!" _

Through the pain, Hiccup felt Toothless wrap around him, a small comforting cocoon. It would be okay. He would die, but it would be okay for him in the end.

He only had to make sure that it would be okay for Astrid.

Pushing through the fog and misery and letting go of his head, he reached for Astrid's hand. He needed to hear her say it. "_Promise me you won't let your friends and family go to time like mine – I only had Toothless. People need other people who understand. Like you. Or they'll go mad, like me."_

"I will, Hiccup." Her words were barely audible. She squeezed his hand. "I will."

It was stupid, but he couldn't help but mutter something about her breaking every bone in his hand.

It hurt. The world hurt. The blackness and the sunshine and everything _hurt._

"_Goodbye, Astrid."_

But the pain was slowly disappearing. He felt his fingers let go of Astrid's hand. He didn't want them to. He wanted to stay here on this earth, with her.

But he was slowly slipping away into nothing.

The last of his memories, which he had worked so hard to protect, were shattering into a thousand pieces like a glass vase, scattering whirling, twirling around him in the tornado of his mind.

And as he slipped away, Astrid was a small candle in his mind.

The only light in the darkness.

…

He is aware that the tiny spark of his brain should not be burning as brightly as it is. He is aware that he should not be thinking because his memories are gone and he is no longer anything.

He is no longer skin.

He is no longer bone.

He is no longer.

He is no longer seeing.

He is no longer hearing.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III does not exist.

But here he is.

Not alive, no. His heart will never beat again from the moment his father's blade entered it, but he is no longer quite so...dead.

But not being dead isn't necessarily a _good _thing. The shards of glass in the air around him are now a fine powder, twisting and turning around him. Does he know what glass is? Or does he merely _think _he does?

Can he even think?

He can't. The fine powder begins to grind into what is left of his brain. Blinding and flashing, pain sears through everything, cutting, ruining, ravaging.

If he ever wished he were dead, now is certainly it. He cannot survive it. His brain is not meant to survive it because he thinks this is the final fading away. He has no reason to continue. He has no reason to _be._

_He is_

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It is like a match being struck in the middle of a dark room. It is the small tendril of warmth swirling off a small mite of kindling, begging to be blown on, to be made into the raging fire of consciousness.

A gentle breeze sweeps up, gathering smidgens of memories - some of them, at least. While the light gust sweeps a portion of them together, a small bit of them swirl about through his nonexisting fingers and fade away.

As he _becomes, _Hiccup cries out. Something tells him those are _his _memories and that he should keep them, but he cannot protest for long. The grains of sand swirl around him and slam into him.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III of the past is no more.

But he is Hiccup.

And that is what he always has been.

No, he is not reincarnated. Feeling returns to his fingers, his toes, but his heart will never beat again. He is dead.

But now he feels like a candle, brightly burning, but only burning because of the wick that holds him to the wax of the earth. Once the wick burns out, he will be gone.

But it is enough for now.

Hiccup understands this truth although no one passes it onto him, and he does not fight it.

Instead, he opens his eyes.

…

Hiccup would stay for Astrid.

She was his new meaning. To stay.

She was the wick to his candle.

She was the match, the flame to his darkness.

So Hiccup opened his eyes to see the world that she ignited.


	2. Another Mirror, Another Time

**Another Mirror, Another Time**

"Come on, Astrid," Ruffnut begged. "It'll be fun."

Astrid slurped up the last of her smoothie and frowned at the empty cup. She had to stop letting Ruffnut talk her into buying them. "That's what you told me _last time," _she reminded her friend. "And look where it got us?"

"I don't see why you're complaining," Ruffnut grumbled. "You got Hiccup, didn't you?"

Turning beet red, Astrid shoved Ruffnut's shoulder. "Knock it off. I just don't see what's so great about a carnival."

"It's about what's _at _the carnival. They say there's a mirror that shows you the last thing you'll ever see before you die."

Astrid couldn't care less about what "they" said. "I don't want to. It sounds weird."

Ruffnut scoffed. "You've been into a haunted house, Astrid, and met a ghost. I never thought I'd see the day when the great Astrid Hofferson is _scared."_

Astrid bristled. "I'm not scared." The very idea that she, a Hofferson, would be _scared _was humiliating.

"Uh huh." From Ruffnut's tone of voice, Astrid caught a good whiff of doubt.

"Fine." Astrid stood to go throw away her cup. "I'll go with you to the carnival - and that stupid house of mirrors. If only to prove you wrong."

"Aha!" Ruffnut cheered. "Brilliant! Meet us there at the gates at ten!"

"Wait - us?"

"You didn't think we'd go to a creepy house of mirrors alone and pass up the opportunity to see Snotlout snivel like a little girl, did you?"

Astrid grinned. Maybe that Saturday wouldn't be so bad after all - that is, if she was going to hear Snotlout scream like a little girl.

…

"Is this like a fair?" Hiccup asked her.

"Yes." Astrid locked her bike to the rack provided for such transportation equipment and proceeded to help Hiccup with his. How he rode a bike with one leg, she didn't want to know.

"It doesn't look like one," Hiccup observed. "It smells like vomit. No offence. And look at all those metal contraptions!" His eyes jumped from one of the "metal contraptions," which was actually a ride, to another. The inner cogs of his brain were already trying to figure out how they worked.

And Astrid was still trying to convince him cars weren't carriages.

"Well, one thing's still the same." Hiccup bent down to pet Toothless, who was in dog form.

"What's that?"

"The screaming children."

"Bleu hallou!" As if on cue, Ruffnut and Tuffnut's bikes came crashing into the rack of of nowhere, almost knocking the poor, flimsy piece of metal out of its concrete base.

"We have arrived!" Tuffnut announced. "Let's go bust some glass!"

Huffing and puffing behind them, Fishlegs slowly pedalled up. His face was bright red, and each turn of his bike's wheels looked like a Herculean task. "Wait...up." He panted, slumping over his handlebars.

Ruffnut poked him in the ribs. "You can't quit on us now, Fishlegs. We need you to film our next video!"

Fishlegs could only manage a toothy grin.

"Well, let's go!" Astrid bent down to scratch Toothless, who was pulling against Hiccup and the leash with all of his might to get to the nearest popcorn vendor. Although Hiccup was having a hard time controlling him (an ironic thing, considering Toothless was supposed to be a trained service dog), Astrid could sympathize with the canine. Her stomach growled.

"We _have _to wait for Snotlou!" Ruffnut protested.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "We don't _have _to. And since when did you care about Snotlout?"

"Do you think he died on the way here?" Tuffnut asked, his voice filled with glee.

"Statistically," Fishlegs began, "the odds of dying from a-"

Unfortunately, they couldn't speculate on the odds of Snotlout kicking the bucket at the early age of seventeen, for he arrived at that moment.

"Hello, b-" Whatever greeting Snotlout was going to direct at Astrid was cut off when he saw Hiccup. "Ahhhh. Boys! Hello, boys!" The narcissistic teen coughed into his fist and ran a hand through his spiky black hair. "Sorry I'm late. I had to update my followers on my new hair gel."

New to all things gel, Hiccup looked mildly interested. Astrid had to stop him before he did something ghastly - like _actually ask _Snotlout what hair products he used. "Now that we're all present and accounted for, let's go! We have a house of mirrors to make ourselves look like idiots in!" Determinedly, she strode towards the carnival's entrance. Behind her, she heard the twins arguing over who was the greater idiot and Toothless wheezing against his collar.

"This is so different," Hiccup marvelled, catching up to her with the aid of Toothless. "It's hard to believe that all of this is real."

The house of mirrors was hardly difficult to find. Although the carnival had opened less than an hour before, a humongous line snaked around the building's flashing lights that advertised _a chilling world you cannot escape._

"A line? I don't want to have to wait in a line," Snotlout complained as they got in place behind the last person. "It goes on for miles! What do you think all of this humidity is going to do to my hair?"

"What a perfect time to test out your new gel," Astrid deadpanned.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut busied themselves coaching Fishlegs on his video skills.

"Hold it _steady. _I want the camera zoomed in on his mouth when he starts swallowing the balloon," Ruffnut instructed like a professional.

Wait, what?

Astrid whirled around and planted her hands on her hips. "For the love of Thor, Tuffnut is _not _going to eat a balloon. Where did you get that, anyhow?" The last time she'd heard, balloons were banned at the twins' house.

"The ground." Tuffnut didn't even possess the decency to look guilty. "Five-second rule."

"You are not swallowing that," Astrid ordered. "Spit it out now."

"You can't make me," Tuffnut said, obviously not aware that the balloon wasn't in his mouth yet.

"I'll make you."

"What _is_ that?" Hiccup looked mildly interested in what was going on and was staring at the object in Tuffnut's hand.

"Steady, Fishlegs!" Ruffnut hopped up and down.

Astrid did _not _want to touch the balloon even though Tuffnut was going to choke on it. "Cut it out, or I'll do the heimlich on you," she threatened.

"Do you know what that is, Astrid?" Hiccup tried again.

"It's a rubber balloon."

Hiccup wrinkled his nose. "Gross."

"Are you going to move on or what?" someone in line behind them complained. "I want to get in there!"

Astrid corralled the twins and Snotlout farther down the line, threatening to bonk the twins' heads together if they didn't cooperate. Although she had been prepared to wait much, much longer to get into the house of mirrors, the time passed by swiftly. By the time they reached the doors (decked out with flashing neon lights and painted ghosts that were flaking), she was grumpy and in no mood to put up with the twins or Snotlout's half-hearted flirting anymore.

She shoved a ticket into the carnival worker's hands. After explaining that no, Toothless wasn't a stray and _was _in fact a highly behaved service dog, Astrid dragged Hiccup into the carnival attraction. She was always a little nervous that someone would eventually notice that Hiccup wasn't quite _alive _although she'd spotted no reason against it herself.

The inside of the house of mirrors was disconcerting. Mirrors reflected everything back and forth, back and forth, creating an impossible loop in their confines. Signs of wear were hidden everywhere; some of the mirrors' corners were worn or cracked, paint peeled, and the floor was scuffed with the refuse of humanity's shoes.

Any sensible germaphobe would have thrown a lighted match and not looked back.

"The mirror wouldn't be close to the entrance," Hiccup hypothesized. "Otherwise, people would all be clustered at the front."

"Let's go this way." Astrid grabbed his hand and dragged him in the direction she thought they should go.

The farther they wandered into the maze, stopping to stare into each pane of glass, the less Astrid believed in Ruffnut's tale. How could one mirror from one junky carnival show you the last moment of your life? It must be a ridiculous rumor, Astrid decided, on started by the carnival's owner to jack up the price of tickets. She'd certainly paid enough. And for what? Rigged games with plastic prizes that would fall apart in two hours!

"I wonder what I'll see," Hiccup said quietly, breaking into Astrid's train of thought upon carnival extortion.

"Oh." Astrid almost stopped walking. She was always aware that Hiccup was a ghost, but she hadn't thought...Ah, she should have! Maybe this was a bad idea. Astrid would never forgive herself if Hiccup went mad or something because he relived the moment of his death.

"I won't."

Astrid nearly choked. "You can read my mind?!"

"No!" Hiccup was quick to assure her. "I could see the look on your face."

"Oh."

They resumed walking, letting Toothless guide them wherever his little doggy's heart desired. Because the walls of the mirror maze were thin, Astrid could hear shouts from Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout as they chased each other around. She wondered if poor Fishlegs was utterly lost at the moment. Once, a very girly scream reverberated throughout the maze - obviously Snotlout. Hiccup and Astrid shared a look.

The longer they meandered, inching along, the more bored Astrid became. Every mirror was the same to her. If she never had to look at her own reflection again, it would be too soon. Just as she turned around from the latest non-magical mirror, however…

_THWACK!_

"Ah, Toothless! How could you do this to…"

Heart racing, Astrid whirled around. "Hiccup!"

He was sprawled out in front of a mirror. Although Toothless (leash loose, wagging his tail guiltily), stood by his master, Hiccup gave no sign that he was aware of the canine. His gaze was locked on a mirror farther down the row.

"Hiccup? Is that…?"

_That must be it, _Astrid's brain told her.

But she couldn't believe it, no. Not until she set foot in front of her it herself.

Although a tiny inner voice told her that she might not like what she saw, if the mirror were real and _if i_t worked "properly," she strode towards it, eyes on the ground. She was a Hofferson, afraid of nothing!

Once in front of it, she planted herself.

And raised her eyes.

…

Like mist following the wind, an image assembled from turmoil of nothing.

A face. Red hair, green eyes. Obviously Hiccup.

But it wasn't the image of the Hiccup knocked out flat on the ground by his own dog behind her. He looked older, slightly more mature, but not ancient. He was sitting in a chair, simply staring.

Older Hiccup smiled at her and spoke. Astrid could not hear what he said, but she knew the words.

_I'll be with you, Astrid. Always._

The image disappeared.

…

After staring at the mirror many minutes longer after that, Astrid helped Hiccup off the ground. "Are you all right?"

"Are _you _all right? You look rather dazed, Milady."

"I'm okay." She wasn't sure what to think about what she'd seen. Warily, she glanced back at _the _mirror, which remained blank as though it had been so since its creation. On one hand, she still wanted to think that the mirror was a fluke. On the other...what if Hiccup would be the last person she saw before she died?

"What did you see?" Astrid asked him before he could pose the question to her. "Your dad?"

"No." Hiccup scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I saw you."

…

Astrid didn't care whether the two of them stumbled out of the hall of mirrors's exit because they were overwhelmed or what. She just wanted out into the vomit-scented environment of the carnival.

"EH! Hoff!" Ruffnut cried. "We've been waiting out here for _centuries. _Did you get lost?"

"Yeah."

"Real lost," Hiccup confirmed solemnly. "As lost as a snowman in Arabia."

"My hair," Snotlout moaned. "It'll never be the same."

"Did you find the mirror?" Fishlegs asked eagerly.

"Oh." Astrid made a vague motion with her hand, hoping they wouldn't press further. "How'd you make out? Any luck?"

Ruffnut pouted. "No! We went _all over _and couldn't find it!" She turned a wicked grin on Snotlout. "We _did _hear Snotlout scream like a little girl!"

"Did not!" Snotlout's eyes darted back and forth.

"Ooh!" Fishlegs clapped his hands together. "I think I see a teacup ride!"

"Teacup ride?" Tuffnut scoffed. "_Teacup ride? _You, my friend, need your first experience on a rollercoaster!"

Wrapping Toothless's leash more securely around his hand, Hiccup sent a confused look to Astrid. "You ride teacups? Aren't they a bit small?"

She grinned. She could think about the mirror later when there weren't so many pressing matters at hand. "Come on, Hiccup. Let's go experience _your _first roller coaster."

…

"One hundred and ten years," Astrid whispered, hardly believing the words that slipped out of her old lips. "I have lived one hundred and ten years."

"I think I have you beat by at least half a century," Hiccup told her from the chair beside her bed, tucking a strand of her silvery hair behind her ear.

In response, Astrid punched him. She might have been one hundred and ten years old, but she wasn't going to let her husband get away with a remark like that. Especially since he didn't look _nearly _as old as she did.

Hiccup caught her fist and ran his thumb over her knuckles. "If you want to hurt me, you're going to have to try harder than _that, _Milady."

Astrid rolled her eyes. His fingers felt cold, and she blinked to make sure that they were actually there. If she let her mind wander, she was afraid that they would disappear. That Hiccup would be gone and leave her forever. Over the years, she had been afraid of this so many times, but the thought never failed to break her heart.

"Tell me what death is like, Hiccup," she asked.

Hiccup stopped rubbing her knuckles. "What?"

"What is death like?"

"I...don't know." Hiccup paused, his eyes far away. "I don't think I've ever truly died yet. Not finally."

"Oh." Astrid felt tired (one hundred and ten years could do that to a person - she was most days now). She let her eyes drift closed as Hiccup leaned over to retuck that stubborn strand of hair.

Tightening her grip on his hand, she opened her eyes for a moment. "Stay with me, Hiccup. Please don't go."

Hiccup smiled at her. "I'll be with you, Astrid. Always."

As she closed her eyes again to fall asleep, Astrid smiled.

She never woke up again.

Hiccup was never found.


End file.
